This invention relates generally to golf ball retrievers and, more particularly, to golf ball retrievers having a single gripping ring or loop capable of picking up a golf ball.
For many years the United States Golf Association has held that the minimum diameter of regulation golf balls be set at 1.680 inches; there is no limit set for the maximum diameter of golf balls by the USGA. Until recently only golf balls having the minimum diameter set by the USGA were produced. In early 1993 a golf ball was accepted by the USGA as regulation, having a diameter of 1.720 inches. This new ball size limits the usefulness of single loop retrievers, as described in the Nihra U.S. Pat. No. 4,310,189, in that the inside diameter of the retrieval loop is "sized so as to be just barely smaller than the diameter of the standard golf ball". The Forey U.S. Pat. No. 5,188,409 describes a single loop golf ball retriever having "an internal diameter a little less than the diameter of a golf ball" which limits its ability to retrieve golf balls of different diameters.